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  <title>Chapter 31</title>
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  <div id="chapter-31" class="element element-bodymatter element-container-single element-type-chapter element-with-heading">
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            <h1 class="title">Chapter 31</h1>
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          <h2 class="subtitle">Nikhil</h2>
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      <p class="first first-in-chapter first-full-width"><span class="first-letter first-letter-n">N</span>ikhil had struggled in vain against his bindings just long enough to determine that the ropes were impervious to his strength, or any magic he could throw at them. Belah’s words rang through his mind. He’d heard her clearly, but nothing made sense in the wake of the attack that came right after.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He’d had a split second of perfect clarity—understanding that nothing he remembered had been true—before he was slammed against the wall and the darkness rushed in again, carried by the rage he felt at being torn from the woman he loved once more.</p>
      <p class="subsq">They had held her while he watched, kissing and touching her. Singing to her in their strange voices that made his heart ache to hear more. The old hurt and anger welled up, red-hot, and the inky darkness came with it. He’d accepted that darkness as part of himself for so long he let it in again, despite an itch of uncertainty as to whether it really belonged.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>Do not watch this. You can escape,</i> the voice had told him. <i>Show them what fools they are to cross you. Punish the other they love for their sins against you.</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">His rage had burned hotter and he clenched his fists. Yes. He knew who the men were, and he knew he had something else that mattered to them almost as much as Belah.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Summoning the power of one of the many elements that enhanced his blood, he ignored his bindings and let himself <i>drift</i> away from the scene in front of him.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Now he stalked through the corridors of his hidden compound in the Canadian Rockies. The building was silent, its many residents and prisoners mostly asleep. Deep in his subconscious, Nikhil could sense the powerful, violent rush of the whitewater rapids the Alexandria Institute’s North American headquarters were built above. That power seemed to urge him on, down into the deepest levels of the compound, built into the solid granite of the canyon the water rushed through.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The most valuable prisoners lived on the lowest level. There were five of them, but today, only one was his target: the female turul. The other creature those two brothers loved, and whose blood he intended to spill to make up for losing Belah’s.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A creeping itch settled into his skull, right in the center of his forehead. He pressed the heel of his hand there, trying to ward it off. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t remember what he was meant to know, to do. No, all he needed to do now was punish them. For stealing her love, for stealing her and her precious blood.</p>
      <p class="subsq">His rage was like a separate being, driving him on with dark, singular purpose. Find the female and destroy her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">One step followed another, his body moving in a haze of fury, his consciousness no more than an observer as he found the door and pressed his thumb to the security pad on the wall beside it. The door swung open to a scene he didn’t expect, one that only fueled the flames growing in him.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Instead of the single female, he found two people in the room. Two naked bodies entwined in passion, speaking soft words of love and devotion that reminded him too much of the words those men had spoken to his beloved.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Love. Love was what had brought him here, made him what he was, but only after it had been corrupted with as much blackness as the blessings he drew power from.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He drew on that power now, let it consume him completely, and let the pain flood through his body when he tore the two figures apart.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The female was astride the male, her feathered wings stretched wide in her ecstasy. He heard a guttural roar burst forth from his own throat as he lunged for her, tossing her light body easily across the small room where she crashed against the wall and crumpled to the floor.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The man cried out and came at him, but it was one of his Elites—his favorite, he realized. Nikhil easily subdued Marcus with a thought and the man fell to his knees, gripping his head in agony.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He turned back to the female.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“This is payment for what your brothers took from me,” he said, his mind suddenly cold and calm, filled with that perfect, dark sensation that made every decision so easy. He reached for her beautiful wings, and one by one wrenched the feathered appendages clear of their sockets.</p>
      <p class="subsq">White agony bloomed across his own back, but it was no worse that the sting of the whip he’d felt as he punished his old lover the day before. He could endure anything.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Letting the severed wings fall while their owner bled in the corner, he turned to find that Marcus had managed to crawl across the floor and was calling out his lover’s name.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He pushed deeper into the man’s mind, hunting for all his secrets. Not only had the Elite disobeyed him, he’d given away this location to Nikhil’s enemy. The dragons would be coming soon, as would their allies, and for that betrayal, Marcus would suffer even more than his lover.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil picked up the knife from the pile of the Elite’s gear that had been haphazardly discarded on the floor. It took no effort to grab the naked ankle, hauling Marcus back from his goal. Nikhil flipped him with one swift movement, like he weighed nothing.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I thought you were worthy of serving me, but no more. You will bleed for your treachery.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">The female cried out and reached for her lover, who sat up and tried to fend off the blade, but Nikhil’s strike was swift and true. He wanted to watch while the man’s life flowed away, the same way hope had slipped through his own fingers while he watched. The dagger sliced deep into Marcus’s upper thigh, blood shooting forth when he withdrew.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil’s own body jerked at the sudden, sharp pain, and warmth seeped down his leg as his blood began to flow from his femoral artery as well, but he’d sustained worse injuries and knew even this wound would not be enough to slow him down for long. Under Nikhil’s mental control, his Elite, on the other hand, would weaken and all but die without a fresh dose of the immortal blood that sustained him.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Marcus struggled feebly, but Nikhil’s control on his mind forced him to lie still while he bled out.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil moved back to the small bed and grabbed the discarded belt his soldier had left with his pants when he’d disrobed. Using it as a tourniquet, he tightened the length of leather around his own upper thigh to slow the flow of his blood and give his wound time to heal.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Then he stood there in the darkness, reaching out with his mind for the ebbing tide of the two souls he’d just condemned, waiting for them to relinquish their hold on life.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A light breeze tickled the back of his neck. He stiffened, on guard now from the change in atmosphere, but the door was still tightly shut and the air pressure hadn’t changed in the room.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A second later, he heard it—the softest note, as ethereal as a dream. Then another note, and another, each one digging into his soul with needle-sharp accuracy. The song took shape and Nikhil couldn’t move at first, paralyzed with emotion he shouldn’t feel now. He’d left behind love for good this time when he left Belah. There could be no going back. The darkness said so.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Except images of her flashed through his mind now, with each new verse of the song this damaged turul female sang.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>Don’t let it in. Don’t listen. It is a lie. I am all you need now. Hear me!</i> The dark voice pushed at the edges of his mind, seeking to blot out any other thought but what it wished him to hear—to know.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Yet the song persisted, its words filled with light and truth, with love and forgiveness. The more he listened, the more he wanted to hear and the less that dark voice mattered.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Gradually his mind cleared, the sinister voice that he’d believed was his own subconscious fading into the background and becoming little more than a nagging buzz. With it all but gone, memories and emotions came flooding back. His <i>true</i> memories and emotions, he realized, turning to face his singing victim and sinking to his knees in the pool of Marcus’s blood.</p>
      <p class="subsq">They all came back—every beautiful moment of his week with Belah, and every tender word she’d shared with him. She had never lied about her love, but had made promises she couldn’t break. But he had broken his promise to her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">With a sudden rush, the memory of Belah’s final words rang in his mind like a bell. Nikhil let out an anguished cry. A daughter. He had a daughter. More than that, his mind hadn’t been his own in three thousand years, and whatever had taken hold of him now knew he had something more valuable than his own life to lose.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Standing again, he looked down at the bloody destruction he’d wrought, his heart twisting at the unnecessary bloodshed.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“This is not who I am, or ever was,” he said. “I do not deserve your forgiveness, but when they come for you—as I know they will—tell them I will find the evil that wielded my mind and body as a blade. When I find it, I will make it die a thousand deaths for every one I caused while under its control. It will never take me again. This is my promise.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">The turul woman continued to sing, her arms wrapped tightly around her lover’s chest as he lay cold and lifeless across her lap. Tears streamed down her face, but she nodded and forced a small smile in spite of them.</p>
      <p class="subsq">When he let the <i>drift</i> carry him out, it was with a clearer purpose than he’d ever had.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>Asha.</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">He had to go to her now, to make sure his daughter was safe. Somehow he would keep his promise to her mother, even if it was the last thing he did.</p>
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